Brides on a budget; what NOT to skimp out on PT. 1
First and foremost: FOOD
You may think this is absolutely crazy and think, ‘what does it matter?’ right? Guess what? IT MATTERS. When my husband and I were wedding planning, that was one of the last big ticket items we searched for on our list to complete our wedding. We had an amazing team behind us already booked and ready for our day, that this was one that we could not mess up on. I remember him saying something along the lines of, “We want to have a nice wedding, and I really don’t want to fall short on the food just to save some money.” Damn it, he was right. (Yes, JOSHUA. YOU. WERE. RIGHT. lol)
The caterer we chose, on paper before our final number, was the most expensive out of all of them. We were nervous just like any other couple about the cost of food, but to be totally frank, it was worth every single penny we paid. They accommodated a few of our guests who had some serious allergies by cooking our fish dish off-site (which, I was told was delicious) or any special requests, and they just kept bringing out appetizers for the full cocktail hour; there was no cap! Which, I was shocked. And also sad because I only had three crab cakes, hahahah. There was never a single issue with them, and we felt really good/comfortable booking them because of how they made us feel, their tasting, and how they treated us. Now I’m not saying, you have to book a restaurant to have good food. Just book someone that’s got good, quality food, knows how to work a wedding, communicates well with you, and you will be fine! Whether it’s plated, family style or buffet, it just has to taste good. I’ve been to plenty of weddings with different styled food that as long as it’s quality, guests are happy. Because that’s one of your main goals for your wedding; to have a fun party and have your guests enjoy your day with you, right?! There’s some kind of mental connection when it comes to food that if it doesn’t taste good, you’re instantly in a bad mood, ya know? I don’t think you’d want that for your guests.
All of this to say: plan your wedding well and find a quality caterer!
Happy planning :)
xoxo, Dana
This is how we determined our food selection:
quality/taste
communication/punctuality
price
We chose Franchesco’s in Rockford as our caterer and we are SO HAPPY that we did. A little about them: they’re a family owned restaurant but also cater to weddings. Their restaurant food is also the food that they provide at weddings, (which, sometimes they don’t do that! Sometimes their menu is different from their catering menu.) and holy SHIT was it good! Our tasting was delicious, and I’m just sad we didn’t have the tasting just for us because it was so good! We we were able to bring two other couples and they loved it just as much as we did; they were actually begging us to book them, lol. It just tasted absolutely fresh at our tasting and on the wedding day.
After our tasting with them, we were conflicted! We had been to three other tastings and all of them had their own pro’s and con’s. But with Franschesco’s, we were in touch with Michelle (who’s an absolute sweetheart, by the way!) and she took care of us so well! Responded to every email and question, and I never felt like we were a burden or bothering them whenever we had to contact them about any part of the wedding.
Before we hired them, we had looked at 3 other caterers. The first one we looked at, we almost booked! Their price point was pretty amazing, food was REALLY good, but unfortunately, their communication was subpar to the point where my husband was too nervous to book them; had their communication been a bit more professional and consistent, it would have been a done deal. The second tasting with another caterer wasn’t up to our standards, especially with how expensive they were out of the four, and the third tasting wasn’t as great as we were hoping. We were pretty bummed about that one because it would’ve saved us a few more steps out of the planning process because they had sweets and midnight snacks.
